Alexandrite
by LottiChotti
Summary: She was the purple and he was the green. No matter how far, they were always linked, by blood, the red. ShikaTema.


Alexandrite

_-.-.-.-_

_I dedicate this to my friend's brother, a good man who just hasn't found the right person yet._

_-.-.-.-_

I find myself here, out in the open grass field, with Shiho next to me. The girl was attracted to me, I wasn't stupid, and so her presence wasn't coincidental obviously. Rumors among _villagers _has that I was courting Shiho, but that was that. Shinobi, teachers, authorities, and my family; they all knew better.

Shiho wasn't terrible of a girl, so I haven't done anything about her. I even know that she was the one passing rumors around. All she does is make small talk here and there, not that any of it interests me. It's not because I'm boring either.

They just… don't have that dry wit and playfulness _she _had.

I never bothered explaining who _she _was. She tried asking people, even Naruto, but they all knew.

_-.-.-.-_

"_Ne, Shikamaru-kun, what interests you?"_

"_Nothing much."_

_He didn't bother looking at her, as he toyed with a patch of grass. _

"_I heard that you like to play shogi."_

"_I guess."_

_It was just a simple conversation, the kind that he's had with many other girls. Just like how everyone expects the enemy to spy, but no one expects the enemy's tactician and a fan wielder to wipe out all the problematic espionage units._

"_Would you mind if play with you for a game? I play it every now and again, and I'm pretty good."_

_I've never lost a game. I've only came close to it, courtesy of someone._

"_You're welcome to, but…"_

_Shiho tilted her head slightly, waiting for what I have left to say._

"_Only she has ever come close to beating me."_

_-.-.-.-_

"Shikamaru…how old are you now?"

"Twenty two, why?"

"Oh, I'm older than you by two years…" she mumbled so softly that I wouldn't have been able to hear if she weren't so close to me. My personal space has never been invaded by anyone but _her_.

"How long is there to the war, you think?"

The war was patching up, the actual battle being over. The past year has been mainly the Recuperation Period. Soldiers and shinobi returning to their respective villages, medic ninjas healing the last of their patients of the war, and generals dispatching the remaining of the enemy units; it kept everyone busy. Kages and authoritative figures now worked to resettle and establish order, thanks to the war. Memorials of their own were inevitable, as were parades. _She _probably is busy too, running along back and forth through the borders.

"A year at most."

"I see…"

Her sentence trailed off, and I knew that she was contemplating about what she wanted to say.

"…Do you mind dating older women?"

I toyed with the thought, dissecting it into all sorts of scenarios possible. I reached into my pocket, pulling out a silver chain, with a gem hung onto the center. It caught her attention, but gems in general did catch women' eyes.

"That's pretty, is it emerald?"

At a glance, it was, but eventually it turned into a beautiful hue of lavender, and then settled for purple. I only quirked an eyebrow, indicating that it wasn't.

"I see, an alexandrite. It's so smooth and unflawed; did you happen to find an exceptionally rare specimen?"

"No…"

Silence settled, creating an uncomfortable atmosphere for Shiho. Shikamaru was too consumed within his thoughts to notice.

"About my question…"

"I would never mind." I think that came out a tad harsh, but I didn't quite care.

_-.-.-.-_

_The two were running for shelter somewhere, as the dark sky threatened to pour. They were sent out to dispatch another enemy unit, but this time had been terrible. Besides the fact that many of them were jonin, suicide bombing has got to be one of the worst to deal with. Right now though, it was good that none of them were in unstable condition._

_As they found a cave to hide in, Temari laid Shikamaru down. One of the enemies was about to set off the paper tags on himself as he was close to her, but he slammed himself against the man. She still was injured slightly, but Shikamaru took the worst of the hit, besides the bomber who is now dead._

_She gently pulled his vest off of him, and searched for the worst of the blood flow. His head wasn't bleeding, thank heavens, so that relieved her. His abdomen to the right was leaking out blood like no tomorrow, so she set to heal that part up._

_She was no medical ninja by any means, but her mother was. Besides, her wind techniques need fine control too, it wasn't as if she deforested trees left and right. Tsunade taught her basic medical ninjutsu, stopping bleeding and the sorts. After the war is over, she'll be sure to make medical ninjutsu the next thing to nail. For now though, the Nara is her main focus._

_Her own arms and legs were pouring out blood too, but she didn't care. Gathering her chakra into her palms, she started aiding the cell reproduction of his abdomen; a much safer version to Tsunade's seal. While doing so, she forced her own chakra into him, as he was near depletion. He never really was the kind who had a lot of chakra stored. It wasn't like she did either, but courtesy of her careful preparations for the past year, she's been storing chakra into her fan; her wind techniques consuming slim to no chakra from her._

_The good news was that the wound was closing up. His breathing became more steady, and he didn't feel as limp anymore. Noticing his trembling, she set up a fire, hoping that even with the rain and their soaked clothes, hypothermia won't settle. As she walked back towards him, he said, "Temari."_

"_Shut up and sleep, you need it."_

"_N-not that," he forced, lifting himself up. _

_She helped him, worried that he'd only open up his wound. "What is it then?"_

"_Something's been on my back; I think you laid me on something sharp."_

_She looked down, and brought the strange rock to her hands to examine. It looked like a black rock right now, with her and Shikamaru's blood pooled around it, but a faint shimmer of red said otherwise._

"_I'm keeping this."_

_-.-.-.-_

I rubbed the gem thoughtfully, as I reminisced about that day. It wasn't often that she didn't either one, beat me senseless, or two, order me to be productive.

_-.-.-.-_

"_Chouji-kun!" Shiho yelled, walking up to the Akimichi boy. He turned around, and saw it was the girl hanging around with his best friend lately._

"_Oh, Shiho-san, is it more food that you don't like?"_

_She befriended him by offering him food that she 'didn't like', since he was Shikamaru's best friend. He proved useful sometimes, especially in retrieving information, such as now._

"_No, I came to ask a question."_

"_Hmm?"_

"_Does Shikamaru have any female friends?"_

"_Hmm…" the gluttonous chunin said, deep in thought. He racked through his brain, to no avail._

"_Besides Ino and you…I don't think so."_

_This only caused more confusion for her. She knew that between Ino and Shikamaru, it was only sibling affection for the two, although it used to be one-side affection from the blonde. _

"_Absolutely no one else?"_

"_Well… he finds women annoying or 'troublesome as he puts it…"_

_She squinted at him, trying to milk his brain for whatever he knew. As if a bulb went off, he suddenly said, "Actually, there's this one girl he found particularly bad, even worse than his mom! She…"_

_Shiho paled immensely, fear creeping up onto her. She met Nara Yoshino when she insisted to attend Shikamaru's birthday. Pleasant and smart woman, but if you got on her bad side, it was hell broke loose._

"_But I never see her around. Is she a dead sister or friend of his?" she blushed slightly, implying that she pretty much stalked him._

"_No, she's…"_

"_Ah, did you mean her?!"_

_The two turned around to find Kiba and Naruto walking towards them._

"_Yeah; how are you two," he responded politely, being the guy he was._

"_Her?"_

_The three guys stared at her quizzically, as if she had an eye on her forehead._

"_You don't know her?"_

"_N-no…"_

_They huddled into a small circle, exchanging small whispers to eachother. She felt odd around, so she asked, "What's she like?" Her answers were unexpected._

"_She can make even dogs and wolves fear her, Akamaru would never approach her when she's pissed off."_

"_She can make you eat your lunch through your nose."_

"_She's so scary that she can clear miles and miles of trees in less than a day! Even I wouldn't dream of ordering around as future Hokage!"_

"_Ah…huh…"_

-.-.-.-

Oh yeah, that was a vivid memory for me. Why that girl tried finding out who she was, I would never know. I chuckled lightly to myself though, when I read her reaction like a book the day she saw her. I doubt she knew that she was the woman no one ever specified for her.

_-.-.-.-_

_It was right after when Ino was sent to the medic camp, being in critical condition. She threw herself onto the battlefield when Chouji was about to be struck, and after handling the enemy for the Sealing Division, Shikamaru brought her to immediate care._

_He pulled out a cigarette and a lighter, using smoking to calm himself. Shiho never saw him smoke unless he was worried, but even that was rare, after his resolve for Asuma's death. He stared off onto the horizon, and she dared herself by asking, "Are you okay?"_

_He stared at her eyes now, and felt as if she was being sucked in. It was as if it was like looking into an abyss, and she felt cold sweat beading down the nape of her neck. Shikamaru was never intimidating, only witty, clever, and devious if anything. _

"_Oi!"_

_A voice yelled it, but no one turned to look. Shiho couldn't, but it seemed as if the person didn't like being ignored. She saw a fingerless gloved hand yank the cigarette out of his mouth. She gasped inwardly, fearing for what he would do to the person, but it seems that he knew who it was; considering the irritation of his face._

"_Woman, you-"he said, as he turned to look at the person._

"_Why, hello to you too," the voice replied. It was a silky low voice, but feminine by all means. Mustering the courage to turn her head to face a woman, and not a bloody-scared person, she was more than surprised._

_Slate eyes met hers, but as she stared deeper, it was rather a silver-tinted shade of teal. Just from her stare, she could tell that she was powerful. Eyelashes adorned her eyes in such a way that stood out as feminine in every aspect, but were by no means long. Full lips with a beautiful shade of winter rose, she couldn't help but imagine her own. Besides that though, she was all battle, from her short dress for ease of battle to her leg guards. She wasn't beautiful at all, if you take a step back and examine._

_But she sure as hell had that attractive aura. Beauty you won't slam onto a front cover magazine, but a face definitely worthy of appreciation. If there was a man who could look at her and genuinely say that they're not attracted to her, it was a lie._

"_I'm not in the mood for this, you know."_

_She had a scowl on her face, but when she noticed the familiar blonde tuff of hair through a thin panel of glass, she softened. Just a little bit._

"_You're assigned to leave at three today for visiting purposes then, but that's all I can do for you. For now though, East Section Mid-Range Division is in need of you. If you don't want the amount of casualties to be more than expected, you better get your ass into work. Now let's get moving."_

_Shikamaru gave her a surprised glance, but muttered a thank you. As she set her fan to fly them to the area, Shiho heard him mumble, "Tch, demanding as always, I got it!"_

-.-.-.-

"By the way, Shikamaru, where did you get that gem? You could probably sell it for the price of a house if you auctioned it; it's so fine and pure."

"In a cave, but I wouldn't sell it for anything."

"May I see it?"

"I hate to be rude, but… no."

"Is it a memento of some sort?"

"…No."

Trees and grass swayed, and clouds floated about. Their shadows casted by the sun were surrounded by a spring breeze, and her blonde disheveled locks tickled her face.

"It's an engagement necklace."

_-.-.-.-_

"_Oi, crybaby."_

"_What is it, woman?"_

"_Catch."_

_It wasn't much of a command, since it landed on his chest, whatever it was. It glimmered underneath the sun, but as he picked it up, he recognized it was the black craggy stone from that day on the cave._

"_What's this for?"_

_As he said that, Temari pulled out a silver chain from her purple obi. He saw a replica of the necklace in his hand, and she said, "You turned twenty-one two days ago, right?"_

"_Yeah…" Was this his birthday present?_

"_I couldn't be there to give this to you personally but…"_

"_Hmm…?"_

"_Before you find any blond beauty during the war, I claimed you, got it?"_

-.-.-.-

I smiled gingerly at the chain. A stone no more than half your thumb, but it sure as hell saved my life; multiple times, to be exact. Little did I know, chakra was stored into the stone, but I wouldn't have had the slightest inkling until when the winds were suddenly in my favor during a battle.

"It was probably the craziest engagement you can think of. No kisses, no 'I love you', but we both understood."

_-.-.-.-_

"_What do you mean, you 'claimed' me?"_

"_You're twenty-one now, a fully fledged adult, I was waiting for when you finally leave your damn teenage years." Now that caught his attention._

_He sat up immediately, as his mother would always tell him, 'When a lady is speaking, a man does well and listen'._

_She had an irritated scowl, but pulled Shikamaru by his vest. Before he knew it, he was pulled to her eye level, only a few inches away from her face._

"_In two years, when this whole damn war is over, we're getting married. Got it?"_

"…_Excuse me?"_

"_When everything is cleared up and our villages are settled, we're having a wedding. It's going to be held right at the border between our villages, and everyone will be there. Or, we can have that the day after we have whatever tradition your clan has, but it sure as hell will be grand. After that, your life will become bloody hell because Yoshino and I are on good terms. I am sure as hell never going to get near the stove, so all the cooking is yours. If I find any octopuses in my food ever, you're sleeping on the couch. We can play shogi or whatever the heck you like, but I want that garden of yours you got there, got it?"_

_It has got to be one of the boldest and strangest confessions he's ever heard, if it can be considered one. They've dated for two years, but still. His mom was bad, but pair her up with Temari, they can run you over like a dozer. But… _

"_That's perfectly fine with me."_

-.-.-.-

But it was a year now. A few weeks after that, she went missing in action, and the group that last saw her had been completely overtaken. A member of the Scouting Division picked up the scent of blood, but they were all either dead or severely injured. No one remembered anything except for a guy in a purple cloak, but they claimed it wasn't Kabuto. None of the blood left behind were Temari's, so we assumed she was still alive. I remember running to find Kiba that day, and went down on my knees, begging him to ask his family to help find her. The dogs found her scent from the scene, but eventually, it stopped. It could've been that the enemy escaped through aerial means, but no one saw anything suspicious by the sky. Another odd thing was, no one saw her fan. If they had it, then tracking her down would've been alot easier. Some assumed she was dead, handled just like how Anko was.

But I know she isn't dead. Even during this period, I still used her chakra, to look through from her eyes. The chakra in the stone had been long ago consumed, but I find that its only refilled, possible if the provider is alive. I can feel the warmth vibrating from the gem, and sometimes it would leave the texture of her hair behind on my skin. If I use enough, I gain a small vision in my head, usually of the surroundings. I assume that its what she's looking through her own eyes right now, because I've started searching around the area where her scent stopped every night. I lost hope at first, until I saw a piece of lavendar on a shrub. Her funeral hasn't been held, and she hasn't been labeled 'Killed in Action'.

Gaara the Kazekage hasn't gave up either. He sends out a Generous support team to aid me, one of them being Kankuro. It seems that they believe she's alive too, because, anyone who knows Temari wouldn't dream of anything defeating her willpower.

"You know, Shiho."

"Yes?"

"The 'she' that I've been referring to is Sabaku no Temari."

The gasp I had expected was exactly the one she gave. A gasp of disbelief, awe, and shock all at the same time. "But she's de-"

"No."

I stood up, and placed the chain back into my shirt. Dusting my pants, I made my way back home, while parting with,

"She's alive. For sure."

I can feel it on my neck, and sometimes, I can hear her heartbeat through this.

_-.-.-.-_

A/N: Well, there you go. I hope it came out nicely, but do tell me if there's something that's terrible. I also thank **jayjoan **for her help in making this oneshot much better.


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